Possession (linguistics)

Inlinguistics,possessionis anasymmetric relationshipbetween two constituents, thereferentof one of which (thepossessor) in some sense possesses (owns, has as a part, rules over, etc.) the referent of the other (thepossessed).

Possession may be marked in many ways, such as simplejuxtapositionofnouns,possessive case,possessed case,construct state(as inArabicandNêlêmwa),oradpositions(possessive suffixes,possessive adjectives). For example, English uses a possessiveclitic,'s;a preposition,of;andadjectives,my,your,his,her,etc.

Predicatesdenoting possession may be formed either by using averbsuch as Englishhaveor by other means, such asexistential clauses(as is usual in languages such as Russian).

Some languages have more than two possessive classes. InPapua New Guinea,for example,Anêmhas at least 20 andAmelehas 32.

Alienable and inalienable

Main article:Inalienable possession

There are many types of possession, but a common distinction isalienable and inalienable possession.Alienability refers to the ability to dissociate something from its parent; in this case, a quality from its owner.

When something is inalienably possessed, it is usually an attribute. For example, John's big nose is inalienably possessed because it cannot (without surgery) be removed from John; it is simply a quality that he has. In contrast, 'John's briefcase' is alienably possessed because it can be separated from John.

Many languages make the distinction as part of their grammar, typically by using different affixes for alienable and inalienable possession. For example, inMikasuki(aMuskogeanlanguage ofFlorida),ac-akni(inalienable) means 'my body', butam-akni(alienable) means 'my meat'.English does not have any way of making such distinctions (the example from Mikasuki is clear to English-speakers only because there happen to be two different words in English that translate-akniin the two senses: both Mikasuki words could be translated as 'my flesh', and the distinction would then disappear in English).

Possessive pronouns inPolynesian languagessuch asHawaiianandMāoriare associated with nouns distinguishing betweeno-class,a-class and neutral pronouns,according to the relationship of possessor and possessed. Theo-class possessive pronouns are used if the possessive relationship cannot be begun or ended by the possessor.

Obligatory possession

Obligatory possession is sometimes calledinalienable possession.The latter, however, is a semantic notion that largely depends on how a culture structures the world, while obligatory possession is a property of morphemes.In general, nouns with the property of requiring obligatory possession are notionally inalienably possessed, but the fit is rarely, if ever, perfect.

Inherent and non-inherent

Another distinction, similar to that between alienable and inalienable possession, is made between inherent and non-inherent possession. In languages that mark the distinction, inherently-possessed nouns, such as parts of wholes, cannot be mentioned without indicating their dependent status.

YagemofPapua New Guinea,for instance, distinguishes alienable from inalienable possession when the possessor is human, but it distinguishes inherent from non-inherent possession when the possessor is not human. Inherently-possessed nouns are marked with the prefixŋa-,as in(ka) ŋalaka'(tree) branch',(lôm) ŋatau'(men's house) owner' and(talec) ŋalatu'(hen's) chick'. Adjectives that are derived from nouns (as inherent attributes of other entities) are also so marked, as inŋadani'thick, dense' (fromdani'thicket') orŋalemoŋ'muddy, soft' (fromlemoŋ'mud').

Possessable and unpossessable

Many languages, such asMaasai,distinguish between the possessable and the unpossessable. Possessable things include farm animals, tools, houses, family members and money, but wild animals, landscape features and weather phenomena are examples of what cannot be possessed. That means basically that in such languages, sayingmy sisteris grammatically correct but notmy land.Instead, one would have to use acircumlocutionsuch asthe land that I own.

Greater and lesser possession (in quantity)

Greater and lesser possession (in quantity) is used in ModernMansi.

Locative possession

Locativepossessive is used in someUralic languages.

Clauses denoting possession

Possession verbs

Many languages haveverbsthat can be used to formclausesdenoting possession. For example, English uses the verbhavefor that purpose, French usesavoiretc. There are often alternative ways of expressing such relationships (for example, the verbspossessandbelongand others can be used in English in appropriate contexts: see alsohave got).

In some languages, different possession verbs are used, depending on whether the object isanimate or inanimate,as can be seen in two examples fromGeorgian:

Kompiuterimakvs( "I have a computer" )

Dzaghlimqavs( "I have a dog" )

Since a dog is animate and a computer is not, different verbs are used. However some nouns in Georgian, such ascar,are treated as animate even though they appear to refer to an inanimate object.

Possession indicated by existential clauses

In some languages, possession relationships are indicated byexistential clauses.For example, inRussian,"I have a friend" can be expressed by the sentence у меня есть другu menya yest drug,which literally means "at me there is a friend". The same is true of Hebrew, e.g. "I have a dog", יש לי כלב,yesh li kelev,which literally means "there is for me a dog".

Latvian,Irish,TurkishandUralic languages(such asHungarianandFinnish) use an existential clause to assess a possession since the verbto havedoes not have that function in those languages.Japanesehas the verbmotsumeaning "to have" or "to hold", but in most circumstances, the existential verbsiruandaruare used instead (with the possessed as the verb's subject and the possessor as the sentence's topic:uchi wa imōto ga iru,"I have a younger sister", or more literally "as for my house, there is a younger sister" ).

For more examples, seeExistential clause § Indication of possession.

See also

• Genitive case
• Possessive adjective
• Possessive case
• Possessive pronoun
• Possessive suffix

Sources

• Heine, Bernd(1997)Possession: Cognitive sources, forces, and grammaticalization.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-02413-6